goldpoint

How Pale Silverpoint and Metalpoint Drawings Really Are?

A silverpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci
A silverpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

Looking at online images of silverpoint or metalpoint drawings, you will probably notice that many of them look very light and pale. Is this the norm? Why are they so light? And most importantly—how comes that only some metalpoint drawings look so pale while others appear much darker? Different computer monitors display images differently, thus you cannot be certain whether some artwork appears on your monitor the way it was intended to look like by the artist who scanned/photographed their work. Moreover, with image editing software like Photoshop, it is possible to alter how light or dark some digital image looks like. So how do these drawing actually look like in real life?

Portrait Commission in Metalpoint

Metalpoint Portrait Drawing

This is a metalpoint drawing. It’s size is 8×10 inches. It is made with 24 karat gold and aluminum. Metalpoint drawings are made by dragging a piece of metal across a surface prepared with an abrasive ground. It’s somewhat similar to drawing with pencils except that the drawing surface must be akin to a very fine sandpaper. This drawing is a commission, my client wanted me to draw his portrait.

Silverpoint Art Beyond Silver: What Other Metals Artists Can Use For their Metalpoint Drawings

Various Metals in Metalpoint Art

Silver is the most commonly used metal for creating metalpoint art. Even when discussing this art technique, the word “silverpoint” is used more commonly than “metalpoint.” Nonetheless, there are multiple other nice metals for silverpoint and metalpoint art that an artist can use instead of silver. This is going to be a guide to various metal options that are available for the metalpoint artist. In addition to silver, artists can use also other metals like copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, zinc, bismuth, nickel, tin, gold, platinum, palladium, or even harder metals like titanium or niobium.